So why is it not the answer? A natural disaster has happed, a pretty big one as well, and what exactly has gone wrong with the nuclear power plants? Nothing. Safety protocols are kicking in, precautions are being taken and not one single bit of radiation has leaked out. I call that a huge win and it should be a rally cry to start building more nuclear plants.

Knowledge and information trump ignorance and fear.

Gee they had Three Mile Island figured out and safety protocol in place...

Any minutes long 8.9 earthquake will cause massive damage to most types of power plants. I wouldn't want to see one in the vicinity of Hoover Dam, or here where I live as the Palisades Dam would not survive it, especially if the reservoir was nearly full.

I don't think it's fair to criticize the reporting on this. Japan is experiencing A LOT of chaos right now, and solid information is undoubtedly hard to come by for the time being.

They are now saying that 2 separate nuclear power plants are evacuating the surrounding areas, as a PRECAUTION. The backup generators to the coolant systems have experienced mechanical failures, and they are working to repair them.

People can cut down wind and solar power all they want. It is unfortunate that they have to put the wind farms in areas and ruin the views for everyone, instead of areas putting them in areas that are already screwed up or better fit like in the lakes or off the coast or even between the 2 roadways on the freeways. The biggest problem is the fact that in a nuclear incident, you are looking at 2,000 or more years that area is really messed up. Solar & wind art FREE, endless supply and no harm done. Oh yea, Big business would "really" lose out if we did - I forgot about them so I guess that is why we can't!

They found a pretty good spot for the wind turbine farm here in SE Idaho. So far, my only concern is the fatal attraction the bats have to them.

Japan doesn't have Chernobyl style reactors. Even if they melted down, they'd be contained within their concrete domes much like what happened here in Idaho in 1961 with the SL-1 experimental reactor. In fact, that SL-1 meltdown had a lot to do with putting all future reactors in very thick, heavily reinforced concrete domes.

All future reactors except for the USSR government's. The lack of a concrete dome over the reactor is exactly why Chernobyl was such a huge disaster.

Bob, they did ice hole. There was a fire in the generator bldg., which damaged the generators that power the pumps that cool the reactor. The plants were scramed (safety measure) [shutdown]. However, as correctly reported the core remains hot and still needs to be cooled. Wake up and read the display!

@Concerned-999 if a nuclear power plant melted down, it wouldn't take 2000 years for the area to be safe to live in. If a nuclear war head blew up an area, it wouldn't take 2000 years. It would be fit for life in less than a year with only a slightly higher chance than Denver that you'd get cancer. And, as stated previously, if the power plant did melt down, the surrounding area would be fine.

Concerned,

The biggest problem is the fact that in a nuclear incident, you are looking at 2,000 or more years that area is really messed up.

I know what you mean man. The poor Japanese have to wait another 1945 years before they can move back into Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Nuclear power plant design is totally reengineered from the past. Core meltdowns due to these types of incidents can be completely avoided. More scare tactics by the enviro group and uneducated journalists. We need to be better caretakers of the earth. That should start with real education in the sciences. We can start with tree huggers who have no scientific background and spew their own spin on everything.

Nuclear bombs and nuclear power plant meltdowns aren't really comparable in that way.

As with the US, Japan runs very safe reactor designs. Even if one of them melted down most, if not all, of the radiation would be contained inside the dome.

Ha De Rice you are funny, did you notice the large fuel storage tanks blazing and dumping tons of polution into the atmosphere. There are likely to be scores who die as a result of that. How about the thousands of workers who die every year in the coal industry who's byproduct is hundreds of millions tons of polution. Casulties so far in this event Nukes 0, others most likely many.

So where is the observation by our genius media . . . the US has reactor coolant stored in Japan? Why would that be?

I'm going to assume that it either came from one of our U.S. Naval bases in Japan (remember we have nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers), or it came from an unaffected nuclear powerplant elsewhere in Japan, The Air Force are probably just the ones tasked to transport it.

Solar power, by the way, requires a LOT of land. A hotel in the next over from has 2-1/2 acres covered w/panels. And that's just for their small 2-story hotel plus inside restaurant.

You do realize that reactor coolant is pretty much just highly purified water, right?

You gotta love the folks always looking for some diabolical covert conspiracy, when the real conspiracy has been going on in plain sight for a very long time.

Wind farms are safe...yea right, tell that to the birds. Active wind farms in Washington and Oregon kill more than 6,500 birds and 3,000 bats annually. And I thought most environmentalists were for animal rights too, but I guess not so much birds and bats, eh?

Bottom line: Every form of energy comes with risks and limitations. We need to find a balanced approach utilizing and improving all forms of energy. What might power homes and businesses might not translate to the best energy source for transportation, etc.

Dee, you miss the point ENTIRELY.

These plants withstood a 8.9 magnitude earthquake and did not explode. That speaks volumes to how safe these plants are and how much has to go wrong before one does meltdown.

Nuclear power, while it does run that risk, is the safest energy source when thinking in terms of water or air pollution, if it weren't for that pesky nuclear waste that has to be disposed of it would be the perfect source of energy, but I think fusion is going to take that title within the next 80 to 100 years.

lynseypug, it is a problem that I already mentioned 4 hours ago.

We do need to figure out a way to prevent the birds and bats from going near wind turbines. It's time for the geniuses out there to start brainstorming on that one.

Holy crap, what a disaster! The poor people in Japan, I feel so bad for them. Wish I could help, but can't. God bless you all.

@Justin

Could not add this because of that ridiculous edit timer.

Both you and Concerned are wrong. It takes much longer then a year for places that have faced a nuclear meltdown to be come safe enough to even step foot in.

Take a look at Chernobyl, even though it is safe enough to go there without white suits, there are still pockets of dangerous radiation all around the city that you have to watch out for.

The fly in coolant update doesn't make a lot of sense. This is a light water reactor so it is cooled by plain ol water. The water has to be of very high purity but it's just water.

There's no reason to even talk about a release of radiation. There is still the reactor pressure vessel, the primary containment and secondary containment systems. These are physical barriers. The reactor is most likely screwed in the sense that it will need to be decommissioned, but nothing is getting out...

Chernobyl is different than these power plants. Modern nuclear plants are built with a dome on top because of Chernobyl. The dome keeps the radiation inside the plant in the event of some terrible disaster.

Haiti had no nuclear plants because it is a 'third-world' country. We may be sending/transporting coolant to Japan to avert possible nuclear disaster, but they aren't dependent on foreign money or aid for rebuilding/recovery like Haiti. These days, Japan would probably have less trouble than we would on a financial level.

Sure nuclear power is safe, keep repeating that until you believe it. You will not catch me drinking your radiactive kool-aid. We do not know enough to "contain" every situation, yet in our arrogance (and greed) we plunge ahead. See if all homes were powered with solar panels and/or wind turbines and heated/cooled with geothermal systems that would cut into the profits of the power companies. While there would still be a need from high rise apartments, office buildings, stores hospitals, etc. it would not be enough of a profit margin for them.

Plus, this would cut into our need for natural gas and oil and they can't have that. Why do you suppose every eco-friendly costs so much and is so hard to finance? Because it cuts into corporate profits. The corporation do not care if your children and/or grandchildren suffer from the effects of radiation poisoning, as long as they get their money from it.

@blondeness - we now return you to your minute of insanity . . . .

The MARKET sets the price for eco-friendly anything - and it costs so much because, wait for it- IT DOES NOT WORK. If eco-friendly anything was financially viable then there would be for-profit enterprises stepping up to, wait for it, earn a profit. There is ZERO profit to be made using real people's money in anything 'eco-friendly.'

Solar? Federally and state subsidized using tax and borrowed dollars to prop up an industry that would be defunct otherwise.

Wind? Without tax incentives not a single windmill would be spinning.

Hydro power? Yep - it works but the eco-friendly people who want emissionless power refuse to allow dams to be built to harness hydro power.

Nuke Power? well, engineers can make it 100% safe - the problem is that bean counters control what the engineers can do and human beings who are not engineers operate it - so there is 99.97% safe - there will be the occasional ooops as a result.

Recycling - without MANDATED recycling and deposits 0 none of it would work, Remember- government relies on you to NOT recycle your cans and bottles since its revenue for them if you don't. Has NOTHING to do with being eco-friendly.

So blondy - go learn some science and math - you can spend all the money you want on $5 light bulbs [which is what they cost if they were not subsidized] or spend $80k to go solar- and another $20k in 10 years to replace the batteries - and then since there are mandatory recycling laws, another $5k to pay someone to take your hazardous waste . . . .

Or - do like I do - natural gas to heat- insulate the house which is cheap and effective, just like on the prairie when they used grass and other indigenous items to insulate cabins - and drive a real car because you will NEVER recover the cost of going hybrid. and if you want an electric car, I hope you live on the west coast so all the CO2 and acid rain from the power plants burning coal and gas to generate that power to run your car falls down wind . . . .

Just read this on another news site:

TOKYO - A Japanese nuclear safety panel said Saturday radiation levels were 1,000 times above normal in a reactor control room after a huge quake damaged a plant's cooling system, Kyodo News said.

MSN, get your story straight before posting it.

Stating "radiation levels 1000 times normal" without stating the measurement was inside the plant is ridiculous. Comeone, a little responsibility should be taken when talking about nuclear anything...

like is an earthquake now a side effect of those bombs that sorta fell out of the plane as it flew over all those years ago....or did Japan have earthquakes before that (please note use of sarcasm font)

Concerned999-

If it takes 2,000 years to clear out the damage of a nuclear accident or where a nuclear bomb was dropped, then why did the Japanese rebuild Hiroshima and Nagasaki which appears to be thriving. I'm just a housewife in the Midwest and know nothing about nuclear damage to an area or how long these areas are contaminated but if it takes 2000 years to clear out the waste and damage it just doesn't make any sense to rebuild an area which was nuked. Could someone explain this.

comanchedriver,

If the eco-energy field had as much research and development money invested in it over time as Big Oil has devoted over the years to denegrating and delaying advances in alternative energy, we'd probably already have had the tech breakthroughs that will eventually make them (solar, wind, etc) the sanest, most affordable & efficient power sources.

Regarding your 99.97 - 100% nuke power statement...I'm guessing this means you've got the head-of-the-line spot for people willing to stash the spent reactor waste in their backyard.

Of course we can blow the tops off of every mountain in West Virginia, grind the Rockies down till their as flat as the Great Plains and destroy all our groundwater aquifers through fracking for their remaining coal, shale oil and natural gas deposits.

Hey, if nothing else it will make the world a bit flatter which should satisfy your medieval way of thinking.

richard #1.3

' and what exactly has gone wrong with the nuclear power plants? Nothing. Safety protocols are kicking in, precautions are being taken and not one single bit of radiation has leaked out. I call that a huge win and it should be a rally cry to start building more nuclear plants.

Knowledge and information trump ignorance and fear."

And you know this HOW that radiation isn't leaking out? Gunt is correct-TMI thought things were under control until they weren't. I WAS THERE! If the fuel rods are uncovered like in TMI, then radiation is building. BTW, you DO know that for almost 32 yrs. the end of this month that the contaminated water is STILL sitting there at TMI in a sealed-off containment building? And everyone in the area got higher fuel bills paying for their mistake?

I haven't even heard what the designs of the reactors were in Japan. Hopefully they took into consideration that they were in an earth-quake area while TMI wasn't.

You might want to rethink that "knowlege & information."

BTW, if anyone is interested, the PBS Three Mile Island Documentary is the best by far of all the ones that were done on it. It's isn't cold & clinical, but shows everyone from the Governor of Pa. who couldn't get through to the NRC because they only had one line, to the "brains" that thought we had a hydrogen bubble building ready to explode-they made a math miscalculation. Rent if you can; it's the truth about what REALLY happened.

P.S. Almost forgot. They built TMI along the flight path into Harrisburg Airport. Of course, this was LONG before 9/11, but what a horrible mess if a commercial jet hit IT!

When you have a bomb or a reactor melts or catches fire and radioactive materials spread, the radioactivity levels decay quickly. In a matter of years most of them are no radioactive anymore but some of them can be radioactive for thousands of years. The quantity of these elements is so small that they don't represent a danger to life.

the hysteria of the left will never end. why are there always the loon marxist Jane Fonda types that will oppose everything that equals progress, that makes the lives of people better, not chained to poverty lifestyles? answer because they aren't able to reason, only emote.

they hate nuclear because they don't understand it. if it should be "outlawed" because of an accident, we should outlaw everything any time somebody gets hurt. outlaw cars because we have "accidents". outlaw booze then. how dumb is this.

nuclear is the answer for those not living in fear and willing to learn the facts. suggested reading before hysteria = plenty of good books on this subject.

@k-man

A breakthrough in energy storage or generation would revolutionize technology beyond anything we can fathom at this point. Economically, whoever comes up with a better energy source than oil will pretty much be able to control the world. Given this, do you honestly think that "big oil" has not put a TON of money into research? And if someone DID happen to discover something that could lead to a better source of energy, do you think they would spend money to hide it instead of just buy it and exploit it? Really? Take my word for it, if there is a way to turn water into energy, it will require some very complicated equipment, not something you can make for $4 with some plans you bought off ebay, and the company that invents and makes that equipment will make the worlds largest countries look poor in comparison.

Anyone who knows anything about how the world economy is driven knows that energy is the foundation of humanity's way of life. The energy needs of humanity exceed what the sun can give us, even if we covered the planet in solar cells and wind mills. Unless some radical new form of stored energy is discovered, nuclear energy will end up being our fall back from oil. If you can't accept that, then at least admit that the biggest threat to the earth is not nuclear plants or exploiting the oil reserves, it's HUMANS. Why don't you lead the way in taking care of the earth's biggest threat and just drink the kool-aid.

richard-1835233

Knowledge and information trump ignorance and fear.

============================

True, however, how often does a government lie. or just misrepresent the facts? It seems government always "errors" on the low side. Remember what our government and BP told us in the initial stages of that disaster. Certainly turned out much worse than we were originally told. How about "mission accomplished"? There are plenty more examples one can use.

The problem with nuclear power is twofold. First) where do you store radioactive waste that has half lives of thousands of years? Yucca Mtn? Don't think so. It's already been shown to be faulty. Second) if you do have a disaster the effects can last centruies. The nuclear weapons tests we did in the 40s/50s are a good example of how far and how long the effects are felt.

I have no problem building nuclear power plants if they can be shown to be safe and we have a safe way to store the spent fuel.

=================================================

Ric-621506

the hysteria of the left will never end. why are there always the loon marxist they hate nuclear because they don't understand it. if it should be "outlawed" because of an accident, we should outlaw everything any time somebody gets hurt. outlaw cars because we have "accidents". outlaw booze then. how dumb is this.

Ric, about as dumb (ignorant) as your rant. The effects of a nuclear accident or detonation of a nuclear weapon is much more longer lasting and serious than your poor examples. It's unfortunate that ignorant people like yourself just don't get it. Most of us aren't stupid; we understand what is involved with nuclear power. What YOU don't understand is we want to be as certain (and nothing is totally foolproof) as possible that we won't have an accident due to shoddy design, construction or an act of terror/nature.

The people of NYC should be very thankful the terrorists of 9/11 didn't target the nuclear facility just northwest of the city. With the prevailing winds in that part of the country any radiation would've drifted southwest. Imagine the effect.

Chip-3032002........tell that to the people around Chernobyl.

...not one single bit of radiation has leaked out.

richard - you should not make false statements in a public forum. The article clearly states that radiation has seeped out of the power plant, prompting an increase in the radius of evacuation from two to six miles. The article also states that "Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday that the temperatures of its No.1 and No.2 reactors at its Fukushima Daini nuclear power station were rising, and it had lost control over pressure in the reactors." That doesn't sound like "nothing" has happened, as your post states. In addition, safety protocols are not exactly "kicking in" if the pressure in the reactors in not under control.

The ignorance of most of you posters is completely dumbfounding. Rather than learn the facts, you make blanket, pre-canned statements that usually have no basis in scientific fact but are merely rhetoric that you hear espoused by media that will say anything to earn a buck. For example, the asinine statement made by Comanchedriver that nuclear power can be 100% safe. There is nothing in the world that is 100% except death. Comanchedriver - you need to "go learn some math and science" before telling other people like blondeness to do so. BTW, you seem to think that you are superior to others because you have made the genius decision to heat with natural gas, but you apparently have not educated yourself enough on the options to know that natural gas is not available in every community.

The vast majority of you need to research the topic of nuclear and other forms of power and really educate yourselves to become better informed voters. Listening to Fox News or other media sources with vested interests will not give you the information that you need to make informed decisions.

Note to Sven and others that mentioned Nagasaki and made comparisons.....

THERE IS NO comparison.....nagasaki was an air blast. Elevated radiation levels dissipated quickly in the city. It is now as safe there as anywhere else on earth.

Chernobyl is different. It IS a problem.

First, ric: Why is that whenever anyone disagrees with someone like you it becomes a name-calling, 'labeling' session? What makes YOU right and everyone else wrong? We have a known history of a significant problem with nuclear power plants; Russia wasn't the only country/facility to experience critical failures. We also have reports, easily available, about aging plants and the risks they pose to the environment and people. It seems YOU are the one 'drinking' (such an old and lame expression, btw...get something new that actually sounds intelligent), believing junk science as reported by people with their own agendas. You just look foolish.

richard-1835233

So why is it not the answer? A natural disaster has happed, a pretty big one as well, and what exactly has gone wrong with the nuclear power plants? Nothing. Safety protocols are kicking in, precautions are being taken and not one single bit of radiation has leaked out. I call that a huge win and it should be a rally cry to start building more nuclear plants.

Knowledge and information trump ignorance and fear.

Perhaps you need help with comprehension??? Although you are right that knowledge trumps ignorance...duh. Here's some knowledge that was clearly available in the article that you seemed to miss:

Radiation surged to around 1,000 times the normal level in the control room of the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima Daichi plant, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said. Radiation — it was not clear how much — had also seeped outside, prompting widening of an evacuation area to a six-mile radius from a two-mile radius around the plant. Earlier, 3,000 people had been urged to leave their homes.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday that the temperatures of its No.1 and No.2 reactors at its Fukushima Daini nuclear power station were rising, and it had lost control over pressure in the reactors.

Sheesh...

The electricity was lost. Okay, shouldn't be a problem, emergency back-up power will kick in...only it didn't, the generators were flooded by the tsunami. Why were the generators placed in an area that couldn't be protected from the water? Perhaps in an elevated location? In water-proof vaults? It's this kind of short-sighted thinking that will result in a catastrophic meltdown someday. There is NO such thing as a fail-proof safety system for these plants, ask any engineer. They like to think in terms familiar to the military and other large organizations: acceptable risk, acceptable losses. Wake up and see the clear, on-going dangers.

Nuclear waste is an enormously difficult political problem which to date no country has solved. It is, in a sense, the Achilles heel of the nuclear industry. Could this issue strike down France's uniquely successful nuclear program? France's politicians and technocrats are in no doubt. If France is unable to solve this issue, says Mandil, then "I do not see how we can continue our nuclear program." FRONTLINE

The Sarkozy administration has made multiple nuclear cooperation agreements with other nations and the president himself has traveled the world as a nuclear salesman.

Some people have labeled civilian nuclear facilities "pre-deployed nuclear weapons."

Moreover, France has a devastatingly poor nonproliferation record, having supplied nuclear assistance to most of the official and unofficial nuclear weapon states around the world. The Israeli bomb program was based on French technology, as was the Iraqi nuclear effort and the South African nuclear program. French companies continue to assist Pakistan and India, which have both used civilian nuclear facilities and materials for military purposes. BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS

Nuclear power plants cost just as much to build and run as coal plants do, FACT.

Breeder reactors use plutonium; a small amount can produce an atomic bomb. If we are really nervous about terrorist acts, why have a product that is so poorly protected by some countries? Again, see France's record of contracting with unstable, radical regimes.

Soooo, to say nuclear power plants are safe is naive at best. We still have the problem of what to do with the waste, which has a 'shelf life' that can be up to almost a half-billion years.

A few more bits of information:

The true economies of the nuclear industry are never fully accounted for. The cost of uranium enrichment is subsidised by the US government. The true cost of the industry's liability in the case of an accident in the US is estimated to be $US560billion ($726billion), but the industry pays only $US9.1billion - 98per cent of the insurance liability is covered by the US federal government. The cost of decommissioning all the existing US nuclear reactors is estimated to be $US33billion. These costs - plus the enormous expense involved in the storage of radioactive waste for a quarter of a million years - are not now included in the economic assessments of nuclear electricity.

It is said that nuclear power is emission-free. The truth is very different.

In the US, where much of the world's uranium is enriched, including Australia's, the enrichment facility at Paducah, Kentucky, requires the electrical output of two 1000-megawatt coal-fired plants, which emit large quantities of carbon dioxide, the gas responsible for 50per cent of global warming.

Also, this enrichment facility and another at Portsmouth, Ohio, release from leaky pipes 93per cent of the chlorofluorocarbon gas emitted yearly in the US. The production and release of CFC gas is now banned internationally by the Montreal Protocol because it is the main culprit responsible for stratospheric ozone depletion. But CFC is also a global warmer, 10,000 to 20,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

In fact, the nuclear fuel cycle utilises large quantities of fossil fuel at all of its stages - the mining and milling of uranium, the construction of the nuclear reactor and cooling towers, robotic decommissioning of the intensely radioactive reactor at the end of its 20 to 40-year operating lifetime, and transportation and long-term storage of massive quantities of radioactive waste.

There is so much misinformation and out-and-out lying by the industry and people in power who have some vested interest (donations, jobs, etc.). There is no way to build and then provide materials for the plants necessary to produce any significant nuclear energy. We still don't know how to safely dispose of or store the waste. Plutonium and waste materials can be used to produce weapons of mass distruction, security isn't always secure. There have been severe security lapses in Kentucky, Arizona and Maryland, to name a few.

But the problem is getting worse as the nation's inventory of nuclear reactors gets older. In addition, the nuclear-power industry is facing increasing competition as the result of deregulation, making it more reluctant to seek out problems that would require the tremendous expense of repair shutdowns. At the same time, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is facing budget squeezes that make it more difficult to monitor the industry.

The result is growing concern about expensive, potentially dangerous nuclear-plant failures.

"Given plant aging and materials issues," cracks and leaks like those that led to the Davis-Besse fiasco, where leaking boric acid ate a hole in the reactor lid, are likely to recur, says a confidential analysis by the influential Institute of Nuclear Power Operations.

Similarly, a research report compiled last year by engineers at several laboratories affiliated with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission warned that "the number of occurrences of age-related degradation has been increasing as nuclear power plants age." CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER

Just think about it....

How about all you pseudo-alchemists and nuclear fissioneers get off of your soapbox and quit pontificating and instead go to some church, get on your knees and pray for the dead and the maimed and the displaced? Your time will come. There are scads of your fellow humans going through hell right now. Think of them in the now!

richard-1835233

In regards to post #1.3 - OOPS - Radioactivity is leaking from the Nuclear Reactors. The Human Race is not near as smart as you give us credit for, especially in dealing with NUCLEAR REACTORS AND RADIOACTIVITY. The harm that may come from these leaks remains to be seen.

The expanse of this disaster is just now being discovered and it will be some time till we humans find out what this disaster holds for the human race.

richard-1835233..........Stay tuned ! This story is not over yet ! Yes there is radiation leaking out and there could be a lot more. Amazing how the weak link was not the reactor itself, but the old tech diesel generator system they use for backup power !

Obviously many of you have not seen what Hiroshima and Nagasaki look like now only 66 years after the bombing!

If George Bush hadn't forced nuclear power down the throats of the Japanese, this threat of a meltdown mess probably wouldn't have happened.

For all of those speaking doom and gloom about nuclear power, let's look at what the article is telling us:

• Radiation levels are 1,000x the normal levels in the control room (that is inside a shielded volume, not in the environment.)
• Radiation levels near the plant door (adjacent to the shielding) are 0.59 micro Sievert/hour
• The average person receives 300 mrem/year from natural sources (if you calculate that out it comes to 0.34 micro Sievert/hour; this means that radiation levels right there at the plant is 1.7x natural levels, or that only about 0.25 micro Sievert/hour at the door is due to the plant source)

Not explained in the article is that every time you double your distance from a radiation source the radiation level is cut down by a factor of 4 (this means that if you double the distance from the plant radiation source to the door, the radiation levels from the plant at that point are 0.0625 micro Sievert/hour; this is insignificant)
This tells me that evacuation measures are precautionary measures just in case things do go bad.

My confidence is 100 per cent in the Japanese, and their nuclear power plants being sealed from leaking. It is the care and thoroughness of their ability for taking responsibility, so others will not suffer from the after effects of this possible radiation problem.

What about Iran, China? and the other Rogue Nations who have Nuclear Power in their hands?.

The cost to do it on a 3 bedroom would be about 80k and then figure 20k maint every 5 years.

That might have been true 15-20 years ago, but that's not even close today. Low-end rooftop solar now runs 5k, mid-sized installations run between 5 and 10k, and high-end installs that can power entire neighborhoods run between 10 and 20k... and as far as maintanence goes, if you do grid-tie, there's none apart from wiping down the pannels once a year. If you do off-grid using batteries then you might have some expense as batteries eventually fail.. but batteries certainly don't cost 20k either... nor do they fail every 5 years like clockwork.

Does that mean nuclear should be done away with? No, there are no problems with nuclear power that can not be engineered out.

Comanchedriver I would not have any problem with muclear power if we could control everything about it. I think trying to use a power source that can kill not only people but render the land and water unsafe for humans and animals insane, (not to mention poisoning the neighboring countries). Ask the people who live near Chernobyl, oh that's right NO ONE lives near by or can go near that place for the next 500+ years. Things happen, like this earthquake, that we cannot control. So why add to that by having something like a nuclear meltdown?

100,000 people die each year in the US due to medical mistakes. Not cancer, but mistakes.

And some folks are in a panic because once every 20 or 30 years we have some risk of radiation exposure from a disaster of some kind.

It's like we live in upside down world, where the things we should not worry about we do, and things that we should worry about, we don't - from energy to debt to crime. It's lunacy.

Mike may, Richard, Bob and old pilot- Have you taken your foot out of your mouth yet? Guess you should think and do your research before you write!!



you can have all the safety protocols you can think of to help maintain a nuclear facility but bottom line when $#!t hits the fan (and it will) and millions are killed, i doubt there will be the people that know what they are doing to put those protocols into action. So, that nuclear power will just end up killing everyone else around that don't have the training to do something. Nuclear power is just another disaster waiting to happen. They may have lucked out this time but there will be a time where protocols will be worthless. I know there is no easy answer to power issues but it irritates me to see people putting nuclear power on a pedestal and think its safer than anything else. BS

Can any of the fear mongers here give an example of a nuclear power plant causing a real problem, other than Chernobyl? Chernobyl is not an example of a problem with nuclear power, it was a catastrophe brought about because a communist regime that was failing wanted to put on a pretense to its people that they were powerful and could do anything that other countries do. This lead to them hastily building a low budget reactor plant without any real expenditure on research and development or proper materials. I would have as much faith in a plant built from a trash can and PVC piping as a high school experiment as I would the Chernobyl plant. Using Chernobyl as an example in discussion of safety in real plants like the ones built in Japan, France, or U.S. is like discussing a fool-hearted attempt to cross the Atlantic in a canoe when trying to have a legitimate discussion on trans-Atlantic travel.

Awesome ! Anabolika kaufen

I hope everyone down there is stocked up on Potassium Iodide (KI) pills just in case there is a leak and they have to worry about radioactive Iodine.

As a matter of fact anyone who works in or lives around a nuclear power plant should stock up on an emergency nuclear fallout kit just in case the power plant gets caught in a natural disaster. Just google "radiation protection" and you'll get several web sites that sell the stuff. Amazon.com, nukepills.com, and unitednuclear.com are a few reputable web sites that sell radiation protection equipment. In all of these KI pills are indispensable. They will only protect your thyroid gland from radioactive iodine though, so don't just pop a KI pill and not evacuate expecting to be imune to raw gamma radiation, radon gas, or other radioactive isotopes.

BTW I'm not anti-nuclear. I think we should invest in it more, I just believe in taking the proper precautions for dangers that are likely to be in your area.

Fortunately, all US nuclear reactors have extensive emergency planning and coordination with state, county, and federal agencies for just this type of event. KI pills are available to everyone surrounding a nuclear plant and are distributed by the emergency planning organizations.

Logan, how about the instances where they found the security guards asleep or even 'missing'? Happened at Palo Verde and it has happened at other plants. Makes you feel real secure knowing that ANYONE could just walk in and do whatever they want.....!!!!

"ARE BULLETPROOF" - "They have a problem with". Woaw.

Thanks for pulling out arbitrary phrases that are all but unrelated from what Cobranut said, almostbulletproof.

The problem with the backup power is not a problem with the nuclear plant. Come at me, bro!

All you nuclear plant supporters -- please built one in your own backyard or volunteer to move right next to it.

Zomgrei

Thanks for pulling out arbitrary phrases that are all but unrelated from what Cobranut said, almostbulletproof.

The problem with the backup power is not a problem with the nuclear plant. Come at me, bro!

The back-up systems arent part of the plant? Have you ever visited a power plant? You are clueless.

JrSub, there are 52 nuclear power plants within 75 miles of me, and I'm downwind of them. Many of them are shut down though. I've even been on the grand tour of the facilities.

Welcome to Southeast Idaho.

baked potato's in a micro wave....

bullet proof...These plants can and do have back ups of back ups but there's always a risk with nuclear energy.

Junior....dont ever visit France.......they are 80% powered by nukes....you'll totally freak out.

Jimee #7.17

I work at one. Jrsub. It is in my backyard more or less. And it is the most efficient way to generate power that there is. The reason that there is not more is tHat the doe will not issue new building permits. There is a vitrification plant in the works now at the doe Hanford site which when complete will melt high level waist and low level waist into glass bars, a more stable long term storage solution then drums, which corrode. On a side note 7 Millirem per hour is pretty high for a control room, however I have absorbed 30 Millirem in an hour a few times, and some of my co workers a lot more then that. The NRC will allow 5 rem annually for workers, but most plants have much more strict company regulations then that.

zoom...The emergency back-up IS part of the plant. A Very Important part. When it fails the core get hot and then what can happen? MELTDOWN The pro nuclear people are either naive or just not able to comprehend. I, for one, gave facts to back up my opinion, pro people are just regurgitating inane comments.

wow! You are lucky... I hope you weren't stuck in your shinkansen or anything?

Our planet will decide what the answer is. Man plays too small a part in the global process to be of any concern to Mother Earth. Wind farms in the ocean, or on the plains, coal fired plants anywhere, solar farms across the globe can all be destroyed in seconds by nature. Nuclear power and however you feel about its application to the worlds energy needs has nothing to do with the current disaster.

And oil and coal are no longer options either. Of course they will not.....so you claim....

"sooner or later would destroy food, water and air for thousands of miles."

Sorry the same thing could happen, or probably even worse at a natural gas plant. The current technology for wind, solar, and others aren't able to handle the insatiable demands of "urban" communities and consumers yet or there costs are not practical "so they say". People should rise up and protest for cost effective renewable energy which will benefit everyone not just a small segment of the populous.

A similar distater at a gas or coal fired plant won't kill hundreds of thousands of people nor would it render hundreds, or even thousands of square miles uninhabitable for generations. Only a nuclear plant is capable of this kind of "Mass Destruction".

For those of us who remember the the Northeast Blackout, the nuclear and plants were back on line first carrying the power grid, which allowed the natural gas and coal plants to start up. Very few conventional power plants have the capability to start up with power coming in from the grid they feed. Fortunately, the Northeast has a large concentration of nuclear and hydro power stations!

Because the sheer amount of pollution released from oil refineries is just not as big of a deal right? Kidding. Nuclear power is safer, people living near a nuclear power plant are a lot safer than people living near oil refineries. Why? Well pollution causes a lot of cancer and diseases and so many deaths occur each year in mining coal. And not to mention the fact that foreign oil dependency is just hurting the U.S. economy when it's already in rough enough shape. Nuclear power plants are incredibly safe, especially seeing as how the technology has advanced quite a bit in terms of safety and precaution. In any event if you lived near a plant and something were to go wrong, there would be plenty of warning in advance. Chernobyl was like 20-30 years ago and that was in Russia, not exactly famous for it's safety standards and well being of it's people.

Besides a nuclear meltdown isn't capable of such a thing and it's not like meltdowns are common, there has been only 1 total meltdown and maybe a couple partial meltdowns. Oil is much more harmful to the planet. Natural gas is highly combustible and that makes it extremely dangerous as it could explode, same goes for oil. How many oil spills, mining accidents, tanker spills and oil related disasters have occurred compared to nuclear energy? Stop placing fear on that which you do not understand, for that is ignorance. Understand it and you will realize why it is not something to fear. I mean really when information is just a search away why live in such ignorance? You can't just believe everything you hear and read and watch without doing your own research. Common sense.

Then what do you propose for a supply of constant dependable power? Solar - issues with that (done correctly in space) make the imaginary problems with nuclear look like nothing; wind - only a constant supply of cat 1 hurricanes would be useable; fossil - greenies don't like; hydro - environmentalists don't like due to fish not being able to climb over. It is people like you that think that the rest of should live in caves and eat raw meat and vegatables, while you live in your ivory tower. Nukes are dependable and the safety features built into them (at least in most cases except for chernoble) make them not pose a threat to anyone. Even TMI only released a few cubic centimeters of Krypton gas although superman may have been frightened.

Most nuclear incidents have been human error, either in horrible designing of the plant or not paying attention and fapping while watching porn while they SHOULD be working. The Japanese seem like they have their heads screwed on correctly with their security protocols.

"Nuclear is not the answer" What is? Coal? Gas? Caused global warming. Solar and wind? Probably too expensive (as in the ammount we would need)to generate the massive amounts of power required for the US. And how many nuclear incidents have their even been? 3 mile island, the incident in russia, and some others, but all in all, there hasnt been that many compared to other disasters.

Nuclear Energy has nothing to do with the Natural disaster that has occured. All nuclear power plants take extensive measures for the "just in case". Just b/c there was an emergency shut down or evacuation does not mean that the world is coming to an abrupt end and all of Japan is going to die from exposure. When was the LAST 8.9 magnitude earthquake??? This is an extreme situation so extreme measures are being taken. Nuclear Power is actually the cleanest and most efficient way to provide electricity to the mass's. My father is a nuclear electrician, and sure 30 years ago it was much scarier than it is today. Nuclear Power Plants have come a LONG way, and they go into emergency shut downs for NUMEROUS reasons. But it's percautionary measures that are being taken here folks. You shouldn't turn what the best way to provide electricity into a political debate, nor the fact that an unpreventable earthquake has occured on a large magnitude and turn into a crusade against a politcian that has NOTHING to do with that particular country. That my friends, is pure ignorance. We should all be concerned with the impending tsunami's and the people who have lost their lives and loved one's to this NATURAL DISASTER!

I think it is the best thing we have going ...today. For the "right now" it is the way to go. There is inherent risks involved with almost all "energy" production, but I do feel that as of 3-11-11, it is what we need. Now, I guess that could change if someone invents something else, but the truth is even if an alternative source were found today, it would take years before the Gov would let us use it, or it would be able to be implemented on the scale we need for our energy appetite.

So exactly what is the solution - aside from getting the world's overpopulation problem solved?

Everything is fine genius. If anything, is proves how capable of a system it is. These plants survived a 8.9 earthquake, with a close proximity to the epicenter. If I were those engineers, I'd be high fiving right now. Though that's the only thing worth high fiving about.

Gotta find a diamond in the rough.

You're right, and the answer is nuclear fusion. Another 50 years with fission reactors then we'll have safer energy at great scale. In the mean time, we shouldn't build new nuclear facilities near earthquake prone areas like California.

Out for Me

Sorry the same thing could happen, or probably even worse at a natural gas plant.

Nat gas fired power plant?

If a nat gas plant had catastrophic problems - you wouldnt see anything near the amount of damage you would see if a nuke plant went out.

Gas compressor explosion, gas turbine destruction (which these unit are often confined to "houses" or packages). The thing about natural gas is - once it explodes it wont track back down the pipe due to pipeline pressure.

Simple solution: Get rid of all power plants. Power each building via solar panels, independently. Keep a few coal/natural gas/oil/nuclear [in a safe location, like Wyoming] plants online as an extra buffer.

Per-unit power generation is the way to go. Get rid of the power utilities entirely.

They have successfully experimented on a variety of devices for nuclear power, or more precisely 'radioisotopes'. From things as small as a pace maker, to a light house, and an airplane.

Honestly, I don't know much about it other than it is supposed to be like a very long lasting nuclear battery and it comes in many sizes, and is already in use for many applications, and I read it would even work in cars.

Personally, I think nuclear is a very good way to go.

"The six reactors at the site use some of the oldest nuclear technology, dating back to the 1960s. The reactor uses a single cooling loop and does not have a containment dome, but rather uses a smaller containment vessel around the reactor core. "These first-generation boiling water reactors have the least margin of safety of any reactor design," said Frank N. von Hippel, a Princeton University physicist and former White House advisor. Without electrical power to circulate water inside the core, the cooling water would begin to boil off, he said." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-sci-japan-quake-nuclear-20110312,0,2627198.story

Some of these answers sound good but do not work. Take it from a guy that formerly worked in the electric power industry.

Like gamer's statement above: get rid of all power plants but a few in remote areas.

For that idea, you need to study something called "grid support".

From the European Nuclear Society's webpage, there are 442 nuclear power plants in operation around the world and 65 currently being built. 17 accidents since 1952, one of those was a nuclear submarine. Chernobyl is the only one that released enough radiation into the atmosphere to kill or injure more than a handful of people. Since 1975 there have been 42,830 people killed in accidents related to other power sources, that includes all the deaths from coal mining accidents and dam failures. That figure includes 30,000 immediate deaths from one hydroelectric dam collapse in China in 1975. The total deaths are estimated at 250,000, so if you count those, then the total would be almost 300,000 deaths.

Chernobyl killed 47-57 immediately, depending on the source. Those were all workers at the plant or rescue workers. In the 50,000 residents of the closest town, not a single case or death from Acute Radiation Poisoning and about 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer, which has a survival rate of 96% at the five year mark.

I live with a nuclear power plant about 50 miles to the west of me and 4 hydroelectric dams about 50 miles to the east of me. Over the years, there has been a lot of damage from the release of waters from the dams, none from any problems at the nuclear plant. It has been shut down several times, but never for any major incident.

"Operators at the Fukushima Daiichi plant's Unit 1 scrambled ferociously to tamp down heat and pressure" ....

[Cue SFX, VFX, melting down reactor miniature. Fade to control room...]

"Push the red button again!!"

"Hai"

"Well!? Report!"

"Dozo yoroshiku, nothing, nani kudasaru!"

"Well then, gorjammit, push the red button again!!!"

I'm with you on this!!!!! Can't they put this on a scale of 1 to 10,,so that an IDIOT such as myself might know just how serious this is????

Probably a 2 by the sounds of it.

Atually, its about a 1. The shutdown is precautionary. We dont want to risk losing power to a reactor coolant pump, thats all. It also lets us evaluate the plant for and damage it may have sustained.

Common guys quit talking down MSNBC your upsetting the libs

I agree, I woke up with an alert on my iPhone saying "Nuclear emergency instaured in Japan". Then I rushed to the TV still barely awake and saw countless cars upside down and fires.

Finally I realized it wasn't a nuclear explosion but an earthquake. What an odd sight.

The China Syndrome and Chernobyl all in one. Unfortunately the only one's that will be safe, are if they are on the Space Station.

Call Jane Fonda.....she can explain it.

I was nervous enough, but you had to bring up Godzilla!

If Godzilla's down there, this had to have awoken him. lol

Your an idiot!!!!!!!

TM in NM, Chill, everyone likes a little fun now and then.

That's just sick!

TM in NM, it's you're not your.

With that I'll just assume that you were talking about yourself there.

And Mothra will now emerge!

Gee, I wonder why people hate Americans? Show some class. You're respresenting an entire nation on the world wide web.

To those suffering from the earthquake and ensuing chaos: my thoughts and prayers are with you.

I understand that everyone has different ways in showing that they are grieving for the loss of life, and try to lighten the topic, but really??? Be considerate. Thanks!

So easy to crack jokes, while you are safe and sound watching the horror on TV. Pray for these poor folks and show a little compassion. Steve Smith

when godzilla farts...people listen!

Its okay, Godzilla joke seems to be posted by a 10 year old. Or so I hope this is the case.

ive seen this godzilla post everywhere...i imagine the greasy, pimply skinned guy in dirty underpants who is posting it must be prolific...

You people make me sick. How can you make Godzilla jokes at a time like this? Just shows how pathetically immature you all are.

Grow the hell up !!!

I'm all for a good joke now and then but the jokes in this blog are in poor taste. The mentioning of politics is also something that should be left out.

This is a severe tragedy. When you look at the pictures of the water shoving homes, cars and boats thru the towns.....remember.....watch....and realize that their are humans in that water as well. Babies, kids, women, elderly, men....all suffering and drowning.

Shame on the people making lite of it all.

At a time like this? This is why people hate Americans? I'm praying for you? WTF people! Get a grip on reality... this wasn't an angry god smiting the Japs for whatever reason. And as far as I'm concerned, go ahead and hate THIS American, just don't ask me to help your self righteous ass!

Bet if this happened in your NECK of the woods. Joking would not be taken so lightly. And yes neck was put in uppercase for a reason. This American tends to think the joksters are the self righteous pompous ones.

Seriously many humans have lost lives today. And some jerk thinks a joke is called for. Or those folks should be called a WWII name its Japanese. Plus take a guess at how many Americans where or are there on business. That's an Americans kid not knowing where their mom or dad is.

Think if you are capable beyond your little world. Or our Troops stationed near there.

Someone who cares about our country, try to lighten up.

Wasn't it our own SecState Madeleine Albright, when asked about 10,000s Iraqis murdered and many 100,000s Iraqi children starved to death and dead to DU cancers, what her thoughts on the subject were, joked, '"I think this is a very hard choice, but the price — we think the price is worth it."

Worth it?!? WORTH IT?!?

I met a great man and Olympic athlete who was shot down in WW2 with loss of all hands, except two other crewmen, for 42 days at sea he joked with them about steak dinners, as one by one they gave up and died, then he landed at last on, of all places, a Japanese military base, where he was kept in a hole in the sand. He kept joking with the prison guard who beat him until they transferred him to Japan mainland, where he kept joking with the other prisoners and the guards that tortured him, ...and he's still alive today.

That's how working people get through MIC-machine nightmare of life as Usury Serfs of America.

There is a time and place for humor. This is not it.

"There is a time and place for humor. This is not it." Agree. When the Twin Towers went down, had someone made a joke of that nature, it probably wouldn't be too difficult to hunt the person down and give them some whoop a**. These pictures are of real people who are devastated. I would imagine they didn't have a nice bed to sleep in or food to eat when they woke up. If people want to help there are charitable organizations which are already organizing help. . Below is a list of non profit organizations, I researched for our families. You might want to look into them.

World Vision: http://www.worldvision.org/

Mercy Corps Partnering with Peace Winds Japan: http://www.mercycorps.org/

American Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/

International Medical Assistance Team: http://www.imateam.org

Pray and donate funds to help these poor people!

Its not a mishap! Learn to read, and then get an education please.

Randy tell us exactly what will happen? How bad is it and how bad is the plant dammaged? Have you been taking readings of the radio activity. How many people are there lying on the ground dying. You are there at the plantr right now? Or are you just insiting fear right now to help your cause?

Lets wait and see how it works out first Then randy can run mouth.

Congratulations Randy! You win idiot poster of the day!

HA! And now I am eating those words because they have falling water levels in the reactor core and will have to release some of the pressure in the containment vessel. This venting will release some radiation into the environment, although not a lot.

Regardless, it is now a Mishap, or more accurately an Accident (Mishaps are caused by human error, accidents are things caused by the environment). At least they are speaking up on it, performing evacuations, and fixing it. Lets hope that they get that core cooled off and keep everyone safe.

I lived in Japan for over nine years, but came back in '98. Once, when I was riding a train into Iwaki-shi, I met two fellows, one Brit, the other American. They told me they'd been working on the nuclear plant close to Sendai, and that it was rife with structural problems due to poor welding and other concerns - it seems the local bosses had many mouths to feed, and managed to get their own flock hired for a lot of the construction jobs, despite lack of qualifications. I asked how they had reacted, and their response was that they were now being well paid simply to stay out of sight and not raise any alarms, which paralleled many of my own experiences in the country. I felt they were sincere in their version of events.

The last time there was a problem with a nuclear plant in Japan (as I recall, there was a coolant leak, and employees were ordered to carry the coolant out in buckets - it wasn't pretty), it didn't even make the papers in the states, and a total whitewash in Japan was the result. I sincerely hope that this doesn't reveal any such thing, because the revelation will probably result in many people being badly affected, but I do fear the worst. hope to be wrong.

David Wellman.....sounds like they were totally Americanized !

From the pictures, it appears the best place to be for an earthquake is in a high rise building.

a few years ago in northern california the electricity went out and the holiday inn did not "leave the lights on for you" and when asked about it had no sense of humor...oh, well.......I liked your joke

I am sure it was the guy on the grassy knoll.

George , so even if it turns out good we can still use the scare tactics to serve yours and randys cause. Makes perfect liberal sense to me.

Maybe the cloud will stay and hover over the middle east for a while.

I can only hope.

george, I like positive thinking. There is a bright side.

DOH!!!!

Right now in Japan there are people dead and dying. There are nuclear power plants failing in ways that could be seriously dangerous. Here in California, we have fisherfolk at sea unable to return to ports destroyed by tsunamis (and that with an unrelated storm approaching.) Good grief. GROW UP! Not every occasion is an opportunity to show off in the junior high school lunchroom.

I agree. Only issue is what to do with the waste.

Nuclear waste is a non-issue. Recycle it to make more reactor fuel using the breeder cycle.

Or if that doesn't float your boat, encase it in 2.5 ton borosilicate glass cubes and stack it in a desert somewhere, put a fence around it with a sign saying, "Keep Out". There, done. Wasn't that easy?

After all, there isn't much of it, all of the spent fuel generated since the beginning of the nuclear age would make a pile 3 feet tall on an area the size of a football field.

Quiet safe? Is that anything like quite safe? And tell the people by the Chernobyl plant how safe it is. They'll NEVER go home because of radiation, but other than that, it's really safe. ALWAYS backups? LMAO!! Who are you kidding? Man gets a basic idea how things work and in their arrogance, believe they rule their domaine. If there were ALWAYS backups... there wouldn't be an EMERGENCY... STFU already!

James, there were a whole host of issues wrong with Chernobyl that ranged from defective design, incompetent engineers, lack of concrete barrier, and more. Much of the problem was because of the Soviet Union.

Do a little research on the Chernobyl incident, and you'll see why there are no parallels to that reactor.

Here is a BBC documentary that takes the accurate information of the incident, but also makes it entertaining by adding some human interaction. It is quite accurate based on my other research (60 minutes).

Let it be a starting point for your understanding of the Chernobyl incident.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyHvDhILYl8

As someone who worked in the nuclear industry, I have to say K, you are an

'over-optimist', would be the most polite word I can think of. You have no idea!

Do Nationalized Standard Tests turn American students into Rhodes Scholars?

Does an adherence to National Codes protect against Code-exceeding events?

Whoops!

Has anyone READ the article? They cannot cool the reactors because a. they can't pump the water coolant and b. can't vent the reactors. AND the reactors themselves were DAMAGED in the earthquake. It isn't a matter of nuclear waste. It is the reactor cores that are in jeopardy!

Fox must of said the sky was blue and NOTHING happened. Fair and balanced...

MSNBC will stick to the desaster story in order to help push anti nuke agenda

Mike May-3093910

MSNBC will stick to the desaster story in order to help push anti nuke agenda

And you'll stick to posting mindless partisan drivel in order to help push education reform

The Japanese authorities have announced a state of emergency for the first time. Maybe Rush or Loofa told you that there was no problem, but it seems that the facts are not on your side.
Read the article again, or read this direct quote:
"as the government declared its first-ever state of emergency at a nuclear plant. "

Get it now?

"as the government declared its first-ever state of emergency at a nuclear plant"

They have had several incidents in the past, and did not declare an emergency because they wanted to cover it up. They delayed doing so this time, and for many hours said there was no problem.

YES! Finally someone said something worth reading!

I think whatever happens anybody who leaft a comment should be fine because they were not over in the chaos.

Simpleton says what?

No reason to wish ill on other just because people choose to buy foreign based products. Disaster or not, people should try to support their own country, but to cut off buying products from other nations would be bad because it'll just affect us in a different way.

God Bless the people of Japan, and those affected by the tsunami state side as well.

they can keep radiation level's low with that lead base paint they use ...

That's in China where they use the lead -base paint,dumba$$

Hey... while you're melting people's brains, ship all the Democrats and lawyers over there so we finish the job.

Heartless basters!

What's a baster? And why do they no longer have hearts?